MEMOIR 


LEONICE  MARSTON  SAMPSON  MOULTON 


READ  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE  OLD  COLONY 

HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  AT  TAUNTON, 

MASS.,  JULY  2,  1897 

By  JOHN  ORDRONAUX 

• 


Reprinted  from    Vol.    VI.  of  its  Collections. 


TAUNTON,   MASS. 

C.  A.  HACK  &  SON,  PRINTERS 

1898 


A  MEMOIR  OF 
LEONICE  MARSTON  SAMPSON  MOULTON. 


READ  AT   THE    REQUEST    OF    THE    OLD   COLON?  HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY  AT  TAUNTON,   MASS.,   JULY  2,  1897, 

BY  JOHN  ORDRONAUX. 


The  record  of  every  life  that  has  achieved  its  highest  ends 
adds  an  instructive  chapter  to  the  history  of  human  character. 
Nor  does  it  matter  what  was  the  sphere  of  its  activity,  so 
long  as  that  activity  was  marked  by  originality  and  virtue. 
Mankind  instinctively  admire  courage  and  Faith  as  among 
the  masterly  motives  to  action,  and  as  instinctively  accord 
them  the  homage  of  their  praise,  because  of  their  uplifting 
influence  upon  the  conduct  of  others.  Fortunate  in  the^e 
respects,  in  the  subject  of  my  memoir,  I  am  here  to  perform 
a  most  grateful  task.  And  I  discharge  it  all  the  more  pleas- 
antly, because  done  in  the  presence  of  those  to  whom  I  am 
about  to  unfold  the  character  of  one  born  upon  their  own 
soil,  reared  beneath  the  same  skies,  and  fostered  by  the  same 
stern  discipline,  which,  from  the  earliest  times,  has  imparted 
to  New  England  character  its  grandeur  and  enduring  strength. 
I  am  here  to  sketch  a  life  whose  incidents,  while  not  belong- 
ing to  the  higher  fields  of  public  action  in  literature,  science 


4  OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

or  political  economy,  may  yet  serve  "  to  point  a  moral,  or 
adorn  a  tale,"  as  an  object  lesson  of  sterling  merit  crowned 
by  sterling  virtues. 

The  habit  of  attributing  eminence  in  character  to  men 
alone,  because  implying  physical  strength,  and  refusing  it  to 
women  in  general,  because  possessed  by  them  in  an  inferior 
degree,  needs  serious  revision  when  practiced  as  a  standard 
of  measure  in  the  sphere  of  moral  action.  Too  little  credit 
is  apt  to  be  given  to  women  for  the  possession  of  that  lonely 
courage,  which  watches  and  weeps  in  silence  beside  the  cradle 
or  the  sick  couch,  uncheered  by  the  hope  of  coming  relief,  or 
social  applause.  No  civic  honors  await  their  patient,  grief- 
shadowed  achievements.  Alone,  and  unsupported,  except  by 
religious  faith,  their  names  are  written  on  a  more  imperishable 
record  than  any  traced  by  human  hands.  There  are  women 
everywhere  whose  heroic  deeds  would  ennoble  any  estate,  how 
ever  high,  yet  who  pass  unrecorded  in  song  or  story,  because 
performed  in  the  field  of  obscure  domestic  retirement.  Our 
American  homes  have  furnished  many  notable  instances  of 
the  height  and  dignity  to  which  female  character  can  rise  in 
the  free  air  of  republican  society.  But  it  is  chiefly  in  the 
domestic  life  of  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers  that 
have  been  found  the  best  examples  of  those  heroic  qualities 
which  have  instilled  courage  and  daring  into  American  man- 
hood, and  enabled  it  to  carry  the  Bible  and  spelling  book,  the 
church  and  the  schoolhouse,  from  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the 
distant  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

The  record  to  be  offered  you  is  that  of  a  brave  nature, 
representative  of  those  vigorous  elements  which  would  give 
eminence  to  the  character  of  any  man,  and  should  much  more 
to  that  of  a  woman.  Yet  I  bring  you  only  a  character  sketch, 


LEONICE   MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  5 

rather  than  an  expanded  biography.  For  after  all  that  may 
be  said  or  done,  character  is  the  one  supreme  element  in  every 
human  life.  Of  all  worldly  things  but  this,  we  are  only  stew- 
ards and  beneficiaries.  Treasures  of  silver  and  gold — exalted 
rank — social  position  with  its  vantage  grounds  of  opportunity 
— all  these  we  part  with  at  the  grave.  Character  alone,  is  the 
single  possession  we  own — ours  to  keep — ours  to  control — 
ours  to  carry  into  the  life  to  come. 

There  died  at  Roslyn,  New  York,  on  the  thirteenth  of  Jan- 
uary last,  a  woman  of  remarkable  character.  She  was  a 
member  of  this  Society,  enthusiastic  in  her  devotion  to  its 
interests,  and  with  a  high  degree  of  reverence  for  the  history 
of  the  Old  Colony,  as  embodying  that  of  the  founders  of  our 
republic.  Her  patriotism  went  back  to  the  Mayflower  and 
the  Rock,  and  continued  a  beacon  light  of  inspiration  and 
hope  throughout  life.  It  is,  therefore,  but  an  act  of  justice 
to  her  worth  to  place  this  tribute  of  remembrance  among 
the  annals  of  our  honored  names.  Had  she  been  born  in  the 
purple,  her  hands  were  fitted  to  wield  the  rod  of  authority. 
Had  her  destiny  devoted  her  to  a  literary  or  scientific  career, 
she  would  have  graced  either,  equally  well.  She  was  fitted 
for  high  achievement  in  any  field  open  to  the  powers  of  her 
sex.  Descended  from  a  sturdy  New  England  stock,  she  was 
a  plain,  un-crowned  American  woman,  strong  of  mind,  and 
fashioned  out  of  that  sterner  stuff  of  colonial  times  which 
made  her  a  shining  representative  of  the  best  results  of  her 
early  religious  and  social  training.  Born  in  the  youth  of  a 
century  of  unparalleled  progress  and  development,  she  lived 
almost  to  witness  its  triumphant  ending. 

In  these  respects,  her  life  covered  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant epochs  of  our  national  history :  that  portion  known  as  its 


O  OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

constitutional  period.  Beginning  with  the  decisions  of  our 
greatest  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  relaying  the  foundations  of 
our  organic  law,  it  passed  through  the  stormy  days  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  the  Tariff  of  1828,  and  the  subsequent 
Nullification  Ordinance  of  1832 ;  the  removal  of  the  deposits 
from  the  United  States  Bank,  thence  through  the  mighty 
Civil  War  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  down  to  its 
concluding  chapters  at  Gett}rsburg  and  Appomattox.  Such 
a  period  of  continuous  strain  upon  the  life  of  a  nation,  and 
upon  the  self-defensive  powers  of  Federal  government,  no 
American  citizen,  let  us  hope,  will  ever  again  witness.  It 
was  the  period  of  crystallization  of  all  the  elements  which 
entered  into  the  formation  of  state  sovereignty  within  a 
federal  Union,  and  of  all  the  dangers  which  could  threaten 
its  peaceful  administration  in  public  council-chambers,  or 
assail  its  national  existence  on  the  battlefield. 

And  what  changes  did  she  not  live  to  see  in  the  social 
life  of  New  England,  changes  resulting  from  altered  material 
conditions,  which  have  lifted  many  household  burthens  that 
the  mothers  of  former  times  bore  without  a  murmur.  All 
these  changes  have  worked  themselves  into  the  moral  char- 
acter of  the  people,  and,  by  comparison  with  that  of  their 
ancestors,  have  lowered  in  many  ways  the  former  standard 
of  self-reliance  and  personal  independence.  The  arts  of 
luxury  have  rapidly  crept  into  our  home  education,  bringing 
with  them  the  taste  for  easy  living  and  indolent  occupations. 
Our  common  schools  teach  many  unnecessary  branches  that 
tend  to  foster  pride  and  to  develop  a  self-esteem  that  creates 
exaggerated  distinctions  between  brain  labor  and  hand  labor. 
It  was  not  thus  in  the  early  days  of  our  century,  when 
every  fresh  necessity  had  to  be  met  by  a  fresh  application  of 


LEONICE  MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  7 

personal  exertion ;  when  troops  of  mechanical  agencies  were 
not  yet  enlisted  in  the  service  of  mankind,  and  both  men  and 
women  toiled  in  the  old  Biblical  way  for  their  portion  of 
daily  bread.  Every  New  England  home  was  then  a  hive  of 
busy  laborers,  contributing  to  form  that  character  for  the 
Commonwealth  which  has  become  the  national  synonym  of 
indomitable  energy  and  ceaseless  thrift. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  born  at  a  time  also  when, 
literally  speaking, 

"  The  busy  housewife  plied  her  evening  care." 

When  women  wove  and  spun  garments  for  the  household ; 
when  wives  could  tend  the  cradle,  or  spread  the  table,  or 
prepare  the  food  of  their  husbands,  without  feeling  that  they 
were  performing  servile  tasks.  And  she  lived  through  that 
transitional  period  in  our  history  which  saw  the  introduction 
of  new  manners  bringing  with  them  a  weaker  sense  of 
domestic  duty.  She  saw  the  original  American  matron  in 
her  prime,  and  saw  her  gradually  changing  into  an  invalid 
lady,  perpetually  leaning  upon  the  services  of  an  attendant 
maid,  and  shifting  the  sacred  burthen  of  rearing  her  children 
to  the  shoulders  of  an  imported  servant.  What  a  contrast 
between  this  and  the  home  life  of  those  mothers  whose  sons 
stood  by  the  old  Concord  Bridge  and  on  Lexington  Green 
at  the  opening  chapter  of  American  independence.  What  a 
contrast  between  this  and  the  life  of  the  mothers  who  gave 
us  a  Daniel  Webster,  a  Benjamin  Franklin,  and,  later  on,  a 
Ulysses  Grant  and  an  Abraham  Lincoln  ! 

And  what  other  changes  did  she  not  witness  in  the  reli- 
gious life  of  New  England,  starting  from  the  time  when  the 
Sabbath  began  on  Saturday  evening,  and  secular  labor  and 


8  OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

children's  sports  and  profane  reading  were  alike  forbidden ; 
when  the  tithing  man  was  abroad  in  the  highway  to  check 
all  idle  travelling  on  the  Lord's  day ;  when  the  young  people 
scampered  home  at  the  ringing  of  the  curfew,  for  fear  of 
being  punished  for  keeping  late  hours ;  when  the  priesthood 
of  New  England  still  retained  its  majestic  Biblical  name  and 
character,  and  was  the  informing  spirit  in  directing  public 
opinion,  acting  even  as  counsellors  to  the  civil  authority; 
when  little  children  paused  in  their  out-door  gambols  and 
stood  reverently,  with  bowed  heads,  as  the  Man  of  God 
passed  by ;  when  towns  raised  taxes  to  support  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  and  church  membership  was  esteemed  an 
essential  part  of  good  citizenship ;  when,  in  fact,  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Puritan  Commonwealth  had  not  yet  expired  as  a 
rule  of  conduct  for  the  community. 

The  character  I  bring  you  is  one  therefore  of  the  olden  time, 
and  shines  all  the  more  brightly  by  contrast  with  the  environ- 
ment in  which  she  lived,  remaining  untouched  and  unaltered 
amid  all  changes  of  circumstances,  and  clinging  loyally, 
through  her  long  pilgrimage  of  eighty-five  years,  to  whatsoever 
things  were  true ;  to  whatsoever  things  were  honest ;  to  what- 
soever things  were  just  and  of  good  report  in  the  example 
left  by  her  forefathers. 

Mrs.  Leonice  Marston  Sampson  Moulton,  daughter  of 
Leonice  Holmes  and  Marston  Sampson,  and  a  descendant  in 
the  seventh  generation  of  Elder  Brewster  and  Myles  Stan- 
dish,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Mass.,  on  the  15th  of  September, 
1811.  In  those  days  it  was  still  the  old  Plymouth  of  the 
fathers,  with  a  lingering  flavor  of  colonial  times  clinging  to 
its  houses  and  people.  It  was  still  the  old  historic  Plymouth, 
where  religious  interests  occupied  a  prominent  part  in  shaping 


LEONICE   MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  9 

the  policy  of  government  and  in  forming  private  manners.  Her 
grandfather's  garden  ran  down  to  the  Town  brook  at  the 
foot  of  Watson's  Hill,  and  was  the  spot  where  tradition  said 
that  Massasoit  had  made  his  first  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
colonists ;  and  hard  by  was  Bradford's  spring,  and  Burial 
Hill,  the  resting  place  of  the  fathers ;  and  all  about  her  were 
relics  of  those  whose  hands  had  wrought  out  in  Church  and 
State  that  intellectual  enfranchisement  represented  by  a  free 
church  —  free  speech  —  a  free  press  —  and  free  schools.  It 
was  something  to  remember,  to  have  been  born  in  the  very  cra- 
dle of  New  England  history,  and  to  have  been  nursed  amid  its 
ennobling  memories.  It  was  something  to  have  spent  one's 
childhood  where  events  had  occurred  destined  to  form  a 
ground-work  for  the  canvas  of  the  painter  and  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  political  philosopher.  It  was,  indeed,  a  rare 
privilege  to  have  trodden  the  very  ground  trodden  by  the 
feet  of  apostolic  men,  bearing,  in  all  their  labors  and  in  all 
their  triumphs,  a  pre-destined  message  of  political  freedom  to 
millions  yet  unborn. 

There  are  sacred  places  in  human  history ;  places  conse- 
crated by  events  that  were  not  born  of  the  will  of  man,  nor 
executed  by  his  unaided  efforts.  There  are  places  made 
sacred  by  the  blood  of  martyrs,  whose  hearts  were  laid  as  a 
living  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  God's  purposes,  in  order  that 

"  Men  may  rise  on  stepping  stones 
Of  their  dead  selves,  to  higher  things." 

Not  to  be  able  to  read  the  underlying  meaning  of  such 
spots,  or  to  respond  to  their  inspiring  memories,  is  to  live 
outside  the  region  of  all  high  ideals;  outside  the  region  of 
the  soul. 

I  pity  the  man  who  could  stand  on  Mars  Hill  where  Paul 


10        OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

preached,  or  in  the  Coliseum  of  Rome  where  an  innumerable 
army  of  martyrs  suffered,  and  yet  feel  no  sense  of  over- 
powering awe  arid  reverent  worship,  possessing  his  whole 
being. 

I  pity  the  American  who  can  stand  on  the  shores  of 
Plymouth  Bay  and  see  nothing  to  move  his  feelings  beyond 
the  beauties  of  nature.  I  pity  him  whose  dull  vision  cannot 
penetrate  beyond  the  color-effects  of  its  landscape  to  read  the 
spiritual  significance  of  a  spot  on  which  the  hand  of  God  had 
written  a  new  Gospel  of  civil  liberty  for  the  future  destiny 
of  mankind.  I  cannot  speak  for  others  here,  but  as  for  her 
whose  character  I  am  sketching,  the  memory  of  this  birthright 
was  an  ever  living  incentive  to  love  of  country. 

She  lost  both  her  parents  when  very  young  and  was  left 
to  the  care  of  her  grandmother  and  uncle,  the  late  Schuyler 
Sampson,  of  Plymouth.  Her  first  instruction  was  acquired 
at  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Mary  Dexter,  wife  of  Rev.  Elijah 
Dexter  of  Plymouth,  and  sister  of  Gov.  Marcus  Morton  of 
Taunton,  who  received  her  into  her  family  as  a  pupil  and 
instructed  her  along  with  her  son  Nathaniel.  Mrs.  Dexter  was 
a  representative  wife  of  the  New  England  clergy  of  that  day. 
She  had  the  talents  and  firmness  of  character  necessary  to  ful- 
fill the  many  sided  duties  of  her  station,  together  with  a  sym- 
pathetic nature  that  expended  itself  in  a  tender,  maternal 
solicitude  towards  those  entrusted  to  her  care.  The  impress 
of  her  guidance  left  an  imperishable  influence  upon  the  char- 
acter of  her  pupils,  who  carried  with  them  through  life  the  prac- 
tice of  those  Puritan  virtues  which  distinguished  their  beloved 
teacher.  Down  to  the  day  of  her  death,  Mrs.  Moulton  did 
not  cease  to  acknowledge  her  childhood's  debt  to  Mrs. 
Dexter,  nor  to  emulate  in  her  own  life  the  wise  teachings  of 


LEONICE   MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  11 

this  saintly  guide.  Reverting  with  undiminished  reverence 
and  gratitude  to  her  maternal  care,  she  was  ever  ready  to 
re-iterate  the  priceless  value  of  the  instruction  and  example 
set  before  her  in  that  Christian  home. 

From  this  household  of  faith  her  young  pupil  went  out  to 
become  a  student  at  the  Bristol  Academy  in  Taunton,  resid- 
ing with  her  uncle,  Roswell  Ballard,  one  of  the  deacons  of 
the  Congregational  church.  Nothing  noteworthy  appears  to 
have  occurred  during  this  formative  period  of  her  character 
beyond  the  exhibition  of  a  growing  love  of  adventure  and 
of  religious  inquiry  into  denominational  differences. 

In  1832  Mrs.  Moulton,  then  Miss  Sampson,  joined  the 
family  of  Hon.  Francis  Baylies,  recently  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Jackson  Charge  d'  Affaires  to  the  Argentine  Republic, 
and  sailed  with  them  in  the  U.  S.  sloop  of  war  Peacock  for 
Buenos  Ayres. 

Mr.  Baylies'  mission  was  a  secret  one,  covering  important 
claims  of  American  citizens,  which  arose  out  of  transactions 
occurring  during  the  pendency  of  questions  of  disputed  sov- 
ereignty over  the  Falkland  Islands  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Argentine  Republic.  He  was  entrusted  with  this 
delicate  duty  because  of  his  intimate  relations  to  President 
Jackson,  with  whom  he  had  served  in  Congress.  The  char- 
acter of  its  importance  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the 
records  of  the  State  Department  show  that  his  despatches 
were  never  made  public.* 

*  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE. 

WASHINGTON,  June  10,  1897. 
JOHN  ORDRONAUX,  Esq. 

Sir:  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  8th  inst.,  I  have  to  say  that 
Francis  Baylies  was  appointed  Charge  d*  Affaires  of  the  United  States 
near  the  Government  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  Jan.  3,  1832.  It  does 
not  appear  that  his  dispatches  have  ever  been  published. 

Respectfully  yours, 

WM.  H.  MICHAEL, 

Chief  Clerk. 


12         OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

The  secret  of  their  contents  remains  buried  in  its  arch- 
ives. We  only  know  from  his  diary,  now  in  the  possession  of 
this  Society,  that  his  mission  proved  a  failure. 

At  that  day,  when  steamships  were  as  yet  unknown,  a 
three  months'  voyage  in  order  to  reach  one's  destination  was 
a  common  chapter  in  ocean  navigation.  Hence,  sailing  from 
Boston  in  March,  and  touching  at  the  Azores  and  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  it  was  only  in  the  middle  of  June  that  the  party 
arrived  at  Buenos  Ayres.  With  a  keen  observation  and  all- 
embracing  appreciation  of  the  novelties  of  this  voyage,  Miss 
Sampson  kept  a  diary  of  daily  experiences.  This  record  of 
events  fairly  rivaled  the  ship's  log  in  nautical  details,  while 
overpeering  it  in  matters  of  personal  and  international  his- 
tory gathered  at  the  Azores,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Monte- Video 
and  Buenos  Ayres.  She  studied  navigation  and  kept  abreast 
of  the  officers  in  their  daily  reckoning  of  the  ship's  course 
and  progress.  Alive  to  every  new  feature  of  the  voyage  — 
whether  in  studying  nautical  manoeuvres,  whether  in  follow- 
ing the  changing  constellations  that  mark  the  dividing  line 
between  the  northern  and  southern  hemispheres,  whether 
studying  men  or  manners  in  foreign  lands  —  everywhere,  her 
quick  eye  and  retentive  memory  caught  the  spirit  and  mov- 
ing incidents  of  the  scene  and  stamped  them  in  ineffaceable 
characters.  Even  in  extreme  age,  her  powers  of  description 
and  vivid  reproduction  of  those  incidents,  with  all  the  acces- 
sories of  color,  form  and  dramatic  proportion,  were  a  source  of 
never-ending  wonder  to  strangers  as  well  as  to  friends.  Nor 
was  this  rare  faculty  limited  to  the  impressionable  period  of 
youth,  but  it  continued  in  active  existence  throughout  life. 

During  the  period  of  Mr.  Baylies'  stay  in  Buenos  Ayres, 
Miss  Sampson  acted  as  his  confidential  secretary,  occupying 


LEONICE  MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  13 

in  this  respect  a  closer  relation  than  that  of  his  secretary  of 
Legation.  The  mission  of  our  minister  was  a  particularly 
delicate  one  at  that  time,  owing  to  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
Argentine  government  under  the  arbitrary  rule  of  President 
Rosas,  soon  after  to  become  its  Dictator.  In  common  with 
most  South  American  republics,  frequent  overturnings  of 
established  government,  bringing  with  them  constant  dangers 
of  civil  war,  kept  up  a  state  of  perpetual  unrest.  Rival  fac- 
tions contended  for  the  sovereignty,  and  each  sought  assist- 
ance at  the  hands  of  foreign  nations.  All  patriotism  was 
sunk  in  the  greed  of  political  power.  In  one  feature  alone 
both  parties  agreed,  which  was  in  the  great  severity  displayed 
towards  political  opponents.  Extreme  measures  of  cruelty, 
whether  against  persons  or  property,  were  the  ready  engines 
of  oppression  ;  and  strangers,  though  but  mechanically  en- 
tangled in  the  civil  dissensions  of  the  day,  were  exposed  to 
similar  risks  as  native  opponents.  Arrests  of  American  citi- 
zens were  constantly  threatened,  according  as  they  were 
charged  with  taking  sides,  and  our  Consul,  Mr.  Slocum,  had 
been  compelled  to  seek  an  asylum  at  the  Legation,  where  he 
remained  the  guest  of  Mr.  Baylies  for  several  weeks  without 
daring  to  step  outside  of  its  inviolable  limits.  Much  of  the 
correspondence  incident  to  the  various  questions  of  inter- 
national law  arising  out  of  these  local  complications  came 
under  the  eye  of  Miss  Sampson,  who  was  thus  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  arts  and  procedure  of  diplomacy  in  problems 
of  contentious  jurisdiction  over  rights  of  territorial  sover- 
eignty and  asylum;  of  commercial  intercourse  between  for- 
eigners during  changes  of  government ;  as  also  with  the 
juridical  bases  upon  which  public  claims  could  be  promoted. 
To  a  young  woman  of  such  keen  perceptions  and  overflowing 


14  OLD  COLONY   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

activity,  this  was  a  field  full  of  dramatic  incidents.  Every 
day  brought  its  changes  of  aspect  in  this  tournament  of  nego- 
tiation, where  cunning  and  duplicity  were  habitually  resorted 
to  as  justifiable  weapons.  Experiences  like  these  instructed 
her  in  the  use  of  the  pen,  and  in  the  art  of  legal  composition, 
and  prepared  her,  as  few  of  her  years  were  prepared,  to  deal 
with  the  practical  problems  of  life  in  a  thorough,  persevering 
manner. 

She  was  absent  nearly  a  year  on  this  mission,  meanwhile 
visiting  Monte  Video  and  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  returned  home 
in  the  U.  S.  sloop  of  war  Warren,  arriving  at  Baltimore  in 
January,  1883.  From  there  she  went  to  Washington,  where 
she  spent  the  entire  winter  and  spring. 

Subjects  of  great  importance  were  then  in  the  air;  sub- 
jects which  foreshadowed  trials  to  the  Republic  never  before 
encountered.  Those  were  the  early  days  of  Nullification, 
with  all  its  attendant  threats  of  secession.  President  Jack- 
sou  had  also  startled  the  country  by  his  determined  warfare 
upon  the  United  States  Bank,  a  step  which  unsettled  our 
finances  and  brought  on  a  disastrous  commercial  crisis.  These 
two  subjects,  the  former  of  which  was  eventually  the  pre- 
cursor of  our  Civil  War,  gave  rise  to  acrimonious  debates  in 
both  branches  of  Congress,  and  brought  to  the  front  the  best 
talent  of  the  nation.  Miss  Sampson  was  a  frequent  attendant 
upon  them,  and  was  present  at  many  a  political  tournament 
between  such  masters  of  eloquence  as  Clay,  Webster,  Cal- 
houn  and  McDuffie.  Her  analysis  of  their  relative  powers 
and  skill  in  the  arts  of  controversial  speech  —  oi  the  manner 
and  tone  with  which  each  combatant  presented  his  case  or 
made  his  reply,  the  salient  points  around  which  the  hottest 
contest  was  waged,  and  the  effect  of  such  varying  tides  of 


LEONICE   MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  15 

battle  upon  the  minds  of  the  audience  —  her  description  of 
those  scenes  was  extremely  felicitous.  These  famous  debates, 
which  have  come  down  to  us  among  the  classics  of  American 
eloquence,  served  as  another  school  in  which  to  sharpen  her 
faculties  and  to  strengthen  the  ground-work  of  her  judgment. 
Although  neither  at  Buenos  Ayres  nor  at  Washington  could 
she  be  said  to  have  strictly  studied  law,  yet  there  was  a 
sufficient  introduction  given  her  of  its  leading  principles  to 
broaden  her  mind  in  its  best  uses. 

A  few  months  after  her  return,  on  the  4th  of  June,  1883, 
she  was  married  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  to  Joseph  W.  Moulton 
of  New  York,  a  former  judge  of  its  Supreme  Court  as  then 
organized.  Mr.  Moulton  was  the  author  of  a  History  of  New 
York  during  the  Dutch  colonial  period;  of  a  Treatise  on 
Chancery  Practice,  and  of  an  Analysis  of  American  Law. 
He  was  a  faithful  representative  of  the  old  chancery  lawyer. 
Keen  in  discerning  the  moral  aspects  of  a  judicial  problem, 
he  was  also  a  man  of  scholarly  tastes,  of  great  industry,  and 
particularly  devoted  to  labors  of  research  in  the  field  of  ana- 
lytical jurisprudence.  A  few  years  after  his  marriage  he 
retired  from  practice  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Roslyn, 
Long  Island,  where  the  remainder  of  their  lives  was  spent. 
He  died  there  on  the  19th  of  April,  1875,  and  was  followed 
by  his  wife  on  the  13th  of  January,  1897. 

In  1861  Mrs.  Moulton  spent  six  months  in  Europe,  travel- 
ling in  England  and  on  the  continent ;  and  in  1869  she  again 
went  abroad  with  her  daughter  and  grandchildren  for  the 
purpose  of  educating  the  latter.  She  was  gone  a  whole  year, 
most  of  her  time  being  spent  in  Switzerland.  Some  letters 
of  hers  published  in  the  Waterville  Times,  of  New  York, 
showed  that  she  retained  the  same  keenness  of  observation 


16          OLD   COLONY    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

and  powers  of  description  which  had  distinguished  her  in 
youth ;  and  a  mind  still  receptive  of  the  beauties  of  nature, 
and  alive  to  the  historical  associations  that  clustered  about 
people  or  places.  She  never  needed  to  use  a  guide  book  a 
second  time,  nor  required  a  second  look  at  a  locality  to  fix 
it,  with  its  details,  in  her  memory.  Such,  in  brief,  were  her 
intellectual  endowments,  which  shone  most  conspicuously  on 
the  practical  side  of  her  active  and  varied  life.  She  believed 
in  opportunism  and  adapted  herself  in  conduct  to  every 
phase  it  presented.  Objects  were  estimated  according  to 
their  present  or  future  utility,  and  waste  and  sloth  were  sins 
never  permitted  within  her  household.  The  success  which 
usually  attended  her  efforts  arose  from  the  fact  that  she  had 
faith  in  herself,  and  never  hesitated  or  wavered  in  the  per- 
formance of  an  action  dictated  by  a  sense  of  duty. 

Those  who  saw  her  only  in  the  midst  of  daily  cares  knew 
little  of  some  of  the  best  sides  of  her  character.  With  in- 
stinctive sympathy  for  all  who  suffered  and  were  wounded  in 
the  battle  of  life,  she  was  a  generous  and  at  the  same  time  a 
wise  and  discriminating  benefactress.  When  our  own  Society 
was  struggling  to  obtain  a  permanent  home  she  contributed 
liberally  toward  that  object,  and  stimulated  others  to  do  like- 
wise by  her  voice  and  example.  Her  interest  in  our  success, 
by  aiding  us  to  collect  historical  material,  never  suffered 
abatement.  Whatever  seemed  to  belong  to  the  histor}r  of  the 
Old  Colony  she  was  ever  ready  to  secure  for  us,  and  our  por- 
trait gallery  and  our  shelves  all  testify  to  the  zeal  with  which 
her  labors  were  performed. 

Nor  was  it  alone  here  that  her  bounties  exhibited  them- 
selves. Wherever  there  was  a  church  in  need  of  assistance, 
she  was  quick  to  respond,  as  she  ever  was  to  the  cry  of  the 


LEONICE   MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  17 

sick  or  the  suffering,  for  she  loved  the  brotherhood  as  well  as 
the  brethren.  Each  had  their  place  in  her  affections.  The 
little  chapel  for  the  Congregational  Church  at  Plympton,  to 
which  she  contributed  so  largely,  was  intended  as  a  memorial 
to  her  father,  who  had  at  one  time  been  superintendent  of  its 
Sabbath  School.  She  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  at  Roslyn  and  of  the  Congregational 
Church  on  its  Highlands.  Indeed,  every  benevolent  under- 
taking in  her  neighborhood,  whether  library,  hospital,  home 
for  children,  or  any  other  enterprise  whose  mission  was  the 
betterment  of  the  poor  or  the  elevation  of  society,  found  a 
ready  helping  hand  in  her. 

Her  religious  convictions,  while  fixed,  were  catholic  in 
liberality  towards  all  denominations.  Neither  the  doctrine 
nor  the  discipline  of  any  church  narrowed  her  sympathies 
for  other  sects.  She  did  not  surrender  her  private  judg- 
ment to  mere  doctrinal  subscription,  because  she  believed 
that  the  oracles  of  God  had  not  yet  ceased  to  reveal  new 
messages  of  truth  from  out  His  holy  word.  And  she  re- 
membered the  advice  of  Robinson  to  his  flock  when  he  said, 
"  If  God  reveal  anything  to  you  by  any  other  instrument  of 
His,  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as  ever  you  were  to  receive 
any  truth  by  my  ministry." 

The  religion  of  conscience  illumined  by  revelation  was  a 
sufficient  prompter  to  action,  and  a  sufficient  guide  in  the 
various  paths  of  generosity  and  justice  which  she  trod.  No 
collar  of  servitude  confined  her  steps  to  a  measured  tread  of 
prescribed  orthodoxy  in  philanthropy.  Every  friend,  every 
neighbor,  every  good  work,  could  claim  a  response  to  an 
appeal,  if  only  just  and  defensible.  Although  herself  impul- 
sive in  temperament,  and  with  feelings  easily  kindled  into 


18         OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

flaming  action,  her  religious  duties  were  always  performed 
with  the  inherited  calmness  of  her  Pilgrim  fathers,  zealous 
yet  not  precipitate,  sufficient  in  energy,  yet  without  effusive 
sentiment.  The  early  teachings  of  Mary  Dexter  were  still 
bearing  fruit.  Moreover,  in  the  home  of  her  grandmother, 
Hannah  Sampson,  and  her  uncle,  Deacon  Ballaid,  she  had 
been  equally  trained  on  the  strictest  lines  of  Calvinistic 
orthodoxy.  Mrs.  Sampson  was,  like  many  pious  women  of 
her  time,  a  close  student  of  the  Bible,  and  always  prepared 
for  an  argument  on  some  mooted  point  of  doctrine.  She  had 
the  fibre  of  the  true  martyr,  ever  ready  to  testify  to  a  good 
confession.  Scott's  Commentary,  Faber,  Flavel  and  Baxter 
were  her  favorite  spiritual  guides.  These  religious  works 
furnished  her  with  mateiials  for  expository  arguments  touch- 
ing "fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge  absolute,"  and  the  future 
state  of  the  unconverted  heathen.  Such  topics  were  always 
in  order  for  purposes  of  discussion  among  church  members  at 
their  interviews;  while  other  topics  like  regeneration,  bap- 
tism, and  the  covenant  of  grace,  she  was  wont  to  discuss 
with  her  pastor,  Rev.  Adoniram  Judson,  father  of  the  distin- 
guished missionary  to  Burmah. 

In  those  days,  pastoral  visits  consisted  for  the  most  part  of 
colloquial  reviews  of  Biblical  studies  and  of  personal  reli- 
gious experiences.  Whoever  could  exhibit  zeal  in  reaffirming 
doctrinal  interpretations  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  was  regarded 
as  adding  new  rivets  to  the  armor-plating  of  orthodoxy,  and 
proved  himself  of  good  standing  in  the  church.  Mrs.  Samp- 
son was,  in  this  respect,  a  shining  light  among  church  mem- 
bers, being  ever  ready  to  take  up  the  sword  and  buckler  of 
her  faith  to  wage  war  upon  spiritual  darkness.  It  was  a 
season,  also,  of  great  religious  awakening.  The  dawn  of 


LEONTCE  MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  19 

foreign  missionary  enterprise  was  just  breaking  upon  us. 
Faber  in  his  work  on  the  Origin  of  Pagan  Idolatry,  and 
Buchanan  in  his  "  Star  in  the  East,"  had  stirred  up  the  con- 
science of  Christendom  and  kindled  anew  the  old  crusading 
spirit.  To  be  a  missionary  and  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  distant 
lands  in  emulation  of  the  Apostles,  was  deemed  the  highest 
exemplification  of  religious  fervor  and  personal  consecration 
to  Christ.  These  were  the  topics  most  commonly  discussed 
by  Dr.  Judson  with  his  parishioner,  and  often  in  the  presence 
of  her  grandchild.  His  tales  of  the  wondrous  East  and  of 
the  perilous  condition  of  the  heathen  destined  to  eternal  per- 
dition, unless  saved  by  uncovenanted  grace,  inflamed  her 
youthful  imagination  to  such  a  degree  that  she  begged  her 
grandmother  to  allow  her  to  go  as  a  missionary,  but  being 
told  that  she  was  too  young  to  be  of  any  service  she  took  off 
her  necklace  of  gilt  beads  and  gave  them  to  Dr.  Judson,  as 
the  only  contribution  a  child  could  make  towards  the  propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel.  Thus  early  did  she  disclose  that  spirit 
of  daring  and  self-sacrifice  which  constituted  the  chief  traits 
in  her  character. 

This  atmosphere  of  spiritual  inquiry  in  which  she  was 
steeped  thus  early  was  not  conducive  to  the  development  of 
a  cheerful  outlook  upon  the  affairs  of  life.  And  the  impres- 
sions it  created,  of  meeting  with  nothing  but  vanity  and 
vexation  as  our  portion  here  below,  were  of  a  character  to 
have  inspired  permanent  religious  gloom  had  not  her  buoyant 
nature  and  later  experiences  of  life  dist-ipated  these  phan- 
toms of  speculative  philosophy  and  self-introspection. 

Nevertheless,  their  moulding  effects  upon  her  moral  char- 
acter continued  to  the  very  last.  They  imparted  a  sternness 
to  her  inner  life,  which  seemed  at  times  to  be  so  self-sustain- 


20         OLD  COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ing  as  to  rise  above  the  need  of  sympathy  or  human  assist- 
ance. With  indomitable  will  she  could  suppress  all  outward 
shows  of  pain  or  suffering,  and  when  the  cup  of  bitterness 
was  at  her  lips  asked  none  to  share  it  with  her. 

This  background  of  self-repression,  and  stoicism  in  the 
midst  of  suffering,  gave  support  to  her  religious  spirit,  which 
had  in  it  some  of  the  underlying  qualities  of  the  Scotch 
Covenanters,  whose  "  Cloud  of  Witnesses  "  has  furnished  the 
names  of  many  noble  women  to  that  illustrious  chapter  of 
Christian  Marty rology.  Signs  were  never  wanting  that  the 
ashes  of  the  old  New  England  orthodoxy  were  still  warm 
within  her  soul,  and  if  stirred  would  give  evidence  that  the 
fires  beneath  were  not  extinguished.  She  believed,  with  her 
fathers,  that  the  church  in  the  apostolic  days  clothed  itself  in 
no  external  forms  of  splendor;  that  the  Gospel  was  origi- 
nally preached  by  the  lowly  in  station  and  in  spirit,  who 
loved  the  services  of  their  Master  and  brought  no  ostenta- 
tious demeanor  into  His  worship.  As  a  consequence,  she  did 
not  sympathize  with  those  forms  of  mechanical  devotion  into 
which  ritualistic  services  were  too  conspicuously  introduced ; 
where  ceremony  overshadowed  the  essentials  of  personal  par- 
ticipation ;  or  where  music  or  imagery  gave  a  sensuous  color- 
ing to  moments  of  adoration.  It  seemed  to  her  an  offence 
against  the  sincerity  of  our  devotion  to  offer  bribes  to  chil- 
dren for  attendance  upon  worship,  and  a  still  greater  offence 
to  use  the  church  as  a  commercial  play  house  for  spectacular 
dramas  of  puerile  significance. 

In  her  domestic  life  she  was  indefatigable  in  personal 
labors.  Her  stirring  temperament  called  for  continuous  exer- 
tion as  a  condition  of  health  and  mental  repose.  Ever  active 
and  energetic,  seeking  for  more  directions  in  which  to  expend 


LEONICE   MARSTON    SAMPSON   MOULTON.  21 

herself,  she  fully  exemplified  that  virtuous  housewife  des- 
cribed in  the  31st  Chapter  of  Proverbs,  "who  looketh  well 
to  the  ways  of  her  household  and  eateth  not  the  bread  of 
idleness ; "  "  who  layeth  her  hands  to  the  spindle  and  her 
hands  hold  the  distaff."  Idleness,  though  gilded  by  prosper- 
ity, was  to  her  the  greatest  of  our  social  sins,  because  the 
one  most  fatal  to  the  growth  of  those  domestic  virtues  of 
industry  ;md  thrift  which  should  cluster  about  wifehood  and 
maternity.  It  was  in  this  forge  of  self-renunciation  and  lofty 
endeavor  that  were  shaped  the  foundations  of  her  robust 
character.  True,  it  was  tinged  at  times  with  a  hue  of  mas- 
culinity, but  without  being  robbed  of  womanly  tenderness, 
for  she  possessed  all  the  essentials  of  a  high  character  in  the 
stimulus  imparted  to  her  daily  conduct  by  Faith,  Hope  and 
Charity. 

The  combination  of  such  mental  and  moral  qualities  made 
her  a  conspicuous  personality  in  the  community,  and  im- 
pressed even  strangers  with  the  feeling  that  behind  her 
outward  qualities  there  was  a  reserved  and  latent  force  of 
still  higher  power  and  possibilities.  In  any  assemblage  of 
women  she  would  have  made  her  influence  felt  through  a 
presence  combining  vivacity  with  dignity,  and  an  easy  self- 
assurance  void  of  all  affectation.  It  was  the  force-element 
impressing  itself  spontaneously  upon  every  action  with  the 
grace  of  naturalness.  She  wore  the  appearance  of  one  born 
for  enterprise  and  command,  and  to  whom  there  was  no  joy 
equal  to  that  of  a  victory  over  obstacles.  With  an  ever- 
hopeful  nature  and  buoyant  feelings  that  overflowed  in  man- 
ners and  conversation,  she  was  an  inspiring  friend  among 
friends,  because  of  a  courage  and  dash  uncommon  to  women. 
Popular  with  the  young,  whose  tastes  and  pleasures  she  was 


22          OLD   COLONY  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

alwajrs  ready  to  share,  she  was  never  so  happy  as  when  ren- 
dering a  service  to  the  poor  or  the  sick,  or  defending  the 
cause  of  the  humble  and  the  friendless.  There  was  also  a 
golden  thread  of  patriotism  interwoven  with  her  nature. 
Born  among  a  people  who  had  never  bowed  the  head  nor 
bent  the  knee  to  princes  or  prelates,  she  was  loyal  to  the  core 
to  the  institutions  of  her  country  and  the  genius  of  our  form 
of  government.  As  a  natural  result  of  her  New  England 
birth-right,  she  had  an  inborn  repugnance  to  those  artificial 
distinctions  of  society  which  undertake,  in  a  republic,  to  estab- 
lish a  system  of  fictitious  castes  based  upon  obsolete  traditions, 
or  questionable  historical  claims.  The  Herald's  College  was 
not  a  place  to  which  she  would  have  gone  herself  or  sent 
others  for  information.  To  her  it  was  only  a  historical  garret 
and  lumber  room  for  collecting  the  cast-off  clothing  and 
mouldering  assets  of  a  decayed  feudal  system.  Her  Ameri- 
canism was  of  that  character  which  no  touch  of  a  foreign 
soil  could  tarnish  or  contaminate.  Her  flag  was  never  lowered 
to  do  homage  to  any  other. 

Possessed  of  so  vivacious  an  organization,  her  exuberant 
spirits  made  her  recoil  from  the  tame  conventional  repose  of 
an  indoor  life.  She  was  neither  a  sybarite  nor  a  lotus  eater. 
She  loved  the  sunshine  and  the  open  air,  for  sun  arid  wind 
were  to  her  Nature's  chief  restoratives.  "  The  breezy  call  of 
incense  breathing  morn  "  found  her  alert  for  the  labors  of  the 
day.  Her  feet  brushed  the  early  dews  that  gathered  on  the 
lawn.  She  loved  the  forest,  with  its  leafy  patriarchs,  its 
sounding  aisles  and  its  silent  mossy  glens;  and  she  loved, 
too,  the  ocean,  with  its  solemn  voice  and  its  "melancholy 
waste "  of  waters,  unchanged  since  creation's  early  dawn. 
The  "  innumerable  laughter  "  of  its  sparkling  waves,  and  the 


LEONICE  MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  23 

sullen  roar  of  its  awakened  tempest,  were  each  to  her  exhil- 
arating objects,  for  she  could  feel  the  inspiring  attitudes  of 
Nature's  varying  moods,  and  drank  them  in  with  the  abound- 
ing joy  of  a  true  worshipper.  She  had  been,  also,  a  life-long 
friend  of  our  greatest  meditative  bard,  Bryant,  and  had 
trodden  with  him  many  spots  on  the  Hampshire  hills,  where 
his  muse  was  first  kindled  into  metrical  speech.  There,  were 
the  same  over-arching  trees  of  the  primeval  forest  under 
which  the  "interior  divinity"  had  moved  him  to  the  utter- 
ance of  Thanatopsis  and  the  Forest  Hymn;  and  there,  too,  the 
same  lonely  road  over  which,  \\hile  travelling  afoot,  he  saw 
the  solitary  bird  which  inspired  his  immortal  lines  to  a 
Water  Fowl. 

Her  reverence  for  his  muse  and  her  many  communings 
with  the  "  good  gray  poet "  made  her  delight  in  all  the  mys- 
teries of  woodcraft,  and  in  all  the  joys  of  fellowship  with 
sunshine  and  flowers.  Sister  to  the  Dryads  and  wood 
nymphs,  she  was  continually  laying  new  offerings  of  affec- 
tion upon  their  altars.  And  in  return,  these  sylvan  deities 
repaid  her  with  the  freshness  of  prolonged  youth  and  the 
buoyancy  of  a  green  old  age,  such  as  come  only  to  those  who 
live  closest  to  Nature. 

If  the  law  of  heredity  has  any  meaning,  it  was  well  illus- 
trated in  the  character  of  this  daughter  of  a  Pilgrim  ancestry. 
A  descendant  of  Elder  Brewster  and  Myles  Standish,  she 
inherited  many  of  the  qualities  of  both,  being  capable  of 
summoning  them  into  action  according  as  the  occasion  de- 
manded. 

As  historical  characters  and  pillars  of  State  in  the  Pilgrim 
colony,  no  two  men  could  be  more  dissimilar  in  organization, 
or  had  lived  through  more  varied  and  dissimilar  experiences. 


24          OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

Standish  was  a  soldier  "  from  spur  to  plume  "  and  had  served 
in  foreign  wars.  By  nature  he  seems  to  have  been  of  a  fiery 
temper,  developed  into  ruthless  daring  wherever  an  occasion 
demanded  aggressive  action,  coupled  with  impetuous  energj'. 
No  carpet  knight  was  he.  Diplomacy,  with  its  honeyed 
words  and  ambiguous  propositions,  were  not  in  accord  with 
his  feelings.  Bluff,  honest,  emphatic,  he  was  always  prepared 
to  take  up  the  material  side  of  any  controversy,  and  had  an 
easy  way  of  clinching  an  argument  with  match-lock  or  sword. 
Like  the  war-horse  described  by  Job,  "  he  snuffed  the  battle 
from  afar." 

In  striking  contrast  with  this  warrior  soul  stood  Brewster, 
the  elegant  and  refined  scholar,  the  statesman,  a  man  of 
learning  and  eminent  piety.  He  had  been  Secretary  of 
Legation  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  ambassador  to  Scotland  and 
Holland,  and  was  possessed  of  all  the  polite  arts  required 
for  a  life  at  courts.  His  chief  distinction  in  the  colony  was 
due  to  the  example  of  humility,  patience  and  self-sacrificing 
endurance  which  he  set  to  others,  in  braving  unmurmuringly 
the  hardships  of  its  pioneer  existence.  His  character  is  well 
summed  up  by  Mr.  Baylies  in  his  Memoir  of  the  Colony  of 
New  Plymouth  by  saying  that  "  with  the  most  submissive 
patience  he  bore  the  novel  and  trying  hardships  to  which  his 
old  age  was  subjected ;  lived  abstemiously,  and  after  having 
been  in  his  youth  the  companion  of  ministers  of  State,  the 
representative  of  his  Sovereign,  familiar  with  the  magnificence 
of  courts,  and  the  possessor  of  a  fortune  sufficient  not  only 
for  the  comforts  but  the  elegancies  of  life,  this  humble  Puri- 
tan labored  steadily  with  his  own  hands  in  the  fields  for  daily 
subsistence."  The  line  of  succession  of  these  distinguishing 
traits  of  the  soldier  and  the  scholar  could  be  easily  traced  in 


LEONICB   MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  25 

the  character  and  action  of  Mrs.  Moulton.  High  spirited, 
yet  self-sacrificing  to  the  degree  of  humility,  she  was  as  brave 
as  the  one,  as  laborious  as  the  other. 

The  firmness  and  dauntless  courage  of  the  "doughty 
little  captain,"  the  absence  of  all  fear,  and  faith  in  one's  self 
under  God's  decrees,  had  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  bosom  of 
his  female  descendant;  and  the  grace  and  quiet  dignity  of 
the  leading  Elder  of  the  first  church  in  the  colony,  with  his 
charm  of  mien  and  insinuating  manners,  were  well  repre- 
sented, also,  in  that  daughter  of  the  seventh  generation. 
Therefore  was  it  that  in  her  organization  native  courage 
inspired  hope ;  and  amid  reverses,  rose  faith  in  final  good. 
She  felt  that  behind  the  cloud  the  sun  was  still  shining,  and 
that  the  children  of  the  Covenant  would  not  be  forsaken  in 
times  of  need.  This  faith  was  strongly  exemplified  when 
misfortune  overtook  her  husband  and  they  had  to  part  with  a 
beautiful  home  adorned  by  her  presence  and  unbounding 
hospitalitjr.  Instead  of  being  crushed  in  spirit,  she  rose  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  occasion.  It  was  not  in  her  nature 
to  cringe,  or  fawn,  or  take  refuge  behind  borrowed  aid.  Her 
sentinel  courage  never  faltered  in  the  presence  of  a  menacing 
danger.  Where  others  would  have  retired  from  view  to 
nurse  their  wounded  pride  and  shrouded  hopes  in  mawkish 
concealment,  she  set  herself  resolutely  to  work,  believing 
that  Providence  helps  those  who  help  themselves,  and  she 
realized  the  truth  of  this  unwritten  covenant  in  the  pros- 
perity which  crowned  her  labors. 

To  do  her  work  in  the  light  of  day  and  in  the  presence 
of  men  and  angels  was  the  order  of  her  life.  It  was  also  the 
creed  of  the  fathers,  to  whose  formulary  she  bore  allegiance 
by  the  testimony  of  her  habitual  conduct.  The  petty  trials, 


26         OLD   COLONY   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

and  pin-head  troubles  under  which  so  many  women  fall  dis- 
heartened and  succumb,  could  not  touch  or  affect  her  robust 
heart.  Life  to  her  was  a  ceaseless  struggle  of  the  spiritual 
element  for  the  mastery  of  the  field.  Every  trial,  every 
temptation,  whether  of  the  spirit  or  the  flesh,  sounded  the 
note  of  conflict  and  awoke  the  joy  of  battle  within. her  soul. 
Lion-hearted,  she  courted  the  heaviest  burdens  of  the  spirit 
and  tossed  them  off  in  an  ecstacy  of  self-helpfulness.  The 
iron  blood  of  the  old  Reformers  was  in  her  veins,  bringing 
with  it  the  spirit  of  the  men  who  had  founded  the  church  at 
Scrooby  and  Leyden  ;  who  had  braved  wintry  seas  and  the 
terrors  of  the  wilderness  to  build  a  Christian  republic  in  an 
unknown  land.  Her  strength,  like  theirs,  came  from  the 
same  source  that  filled  the  hearts  of  the  Hebrew  prophets 
with  good  courage  and  trust  before  the  sons  of  men. 

Yet  with  no  outward  show  of  religious  fervor,  there  was 
in  her  daily  life  an  undercurrent  of  justice,  tempered  by 
charity,  which  led  her  to  make  sacrifices  at  every  call  of  duty. 
Patient,  painstaking  and  studious  in  her  cultivation  of  every 
phase  of  thrift,  she  lived  to  reap  a  harvest  of  satisfaction  in 
the  possession  of  means  "  to  do  good  and  to  distribute  "  with 
an  open  hand  and  a  loving,  rejoicing  heart. 

But  there  was  still  another  side  to  her  character  which 
needs  to  be  known,  because  furnishing  an  additional  back- 
ground for  the  Doric  virtues  of  courage  and  mastery  over 
circumstances  which  she  possessed.  Strange  as  it  may  appear 
to  connect  it  with  a  woman's  nature,  yet  it  was  there,  deeply 
implanted,  ineradicable,  and  no  other  name  so  fittingly  des- 
cribes it  as  that  of  a  martial  instinct.  She  was  a  soldier- 
woman  at  heart,  with  all  the  dash  and  daring  belonging  to 
that  endowment.  Whether  it  came  down  from  Standish,  or 


LEOXICE  MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  27 

that  paternal  great-grand  father,  Zabdiel  Sampson*,  of  Plymp- 
ton,  who  fell  in  battle  on  Harlem  Heights,  or  of  his  son 
William,  also  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  cannot  be  told;  but  it 
was  there  as  a  living,  energizing  principle,  stamped  upon  her 
actions  in  all  moments  of  stirring  endeavor.  She  had  spent 
six  months  on  board  a  man-of-war  on  her  voj^ages  to  and  from 
South  America ;  and  the  experiences  of  that  life,  with  its 
pictured  pages  of  travel  in  strange  lands,  of  military  dis- 
cipline as  an  adjunct  to  the  art  of  war,  of  diplomatic  ceremony 
as  the  roadway  for  the  passage  of  international  courtesies  and 
official  communications — all  these  scenes  of  varied  pageantry 
had  touched  a  sympathetic  chord  in  her  heart  and  left  an 
ineffaceable  impress  upon  her  mind. 

Fascinated  by  the  novelties  of  these  dramatic  incidents  so 
kindred  to  her  tastes,  she  had  assimilated  their  most  salient 
features,  making  them  part  of  her  many-sided  experiences, 
and  by  reason  of  being  present  at  all  manoeuvres  that  had 
about  them  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  mimic  warfare,  had 
caught  the  contagion  of  its  pervading  atmosphere.  She  had 
sailed  under  the  old  Flag  into  foreign  ports,  and  witnessed  the 
respect  shown  to  it  in  official  salutes  and  public  entertain- 

*ZABDIEL  SAMPSON  was  born  in  Plympton,  Ma-s ,  April  26,  1727; 
married  Abigail  Cushman  December  '61,  1747.  bhe  died  May  4,  1751, 
leaving  one  child.  He  married  for  his  second  wife  Abiah  Whituiarsh, 
Aug.  22,  1752,  by  whom  he  had  nine  children. 

His  first  military  service  was  in  the  "  French  War  of  1756."  From 
the  Revolutionary  War  Archives  of  Massachusetts  it  appears  that  he 
enlisted  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  as  a  private  in  Capt.  John 
Bradford's  Co ,  in  Col.  Theophilus  Cotton's  Regiment  which  marched  on 
the  alarm  of  Apiil  lb,  1775,  from  Plyinptou  to  Marshfield,  serving 
twelve  days. 

He  re-enlisted  May  2,  1775,  in  the  same  company  and  regiment, 
serving  three  mouths  and  seven  days.  Again  enlisted  Oct.  7,  1775,  in 
the  same  company  and  regiment.  He  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Harlem 
Heights,  Sept.  16,  1776,  but  in  what  regiment  serving  the  archives 
above  quoted  do  not  show.  His  third  son  \\  illiam  also  enlisted  in  l7oU, 
in  the  Revolutionary  Army. 

Vol.  11,  p.  249;  Vol.  14,  p.  36;  Vol.  56,  p.  71. 


28          OLD   COLONY   HISTOEICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

ments.  The  sight  of  it  on  national  anniversaries  always 
awoke  a  thrill  of  ardor  in  her  bosom.  At  home  she  had  one 
of  her  own  which  she  loved  to  display  on  public  days,  and 
whenever  any  pageant  brought  forth  an  array  of  troops 
marching  to  the  call  of  drum  and  bugle  her  face  became 
aglow  with  animation,  as  though  the  old  blood  of  the  Revo- 
lution was  rippling  afresh  in  her  veins. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  and  but  a  few  days 
after  the  firing  upon  Sumter,  she  started  alone  for  Baltimore 
to  bring  her  daughter  and  grandchildren  back  to  the  North. 
It  was  midnight  when  she  reached  the  depot  in  Philadelphia. 
Not  a  traveller  was  to  be  seen.  A  conductor  informed  her 
that  no  passengers  could  be  taken ;  that  the  railroad  was  cut 
to  prevent  the  passage  of  troops,  and  the  train  about  to  leave 
would  be  exclusively  occupied  by  a  regiment  going  to  force 
its  way  to  the  national  Capital.  Not  in  the  least  intimidated, 
she  replied  that  she  was  going  to  Baltimore  to  rescue  her 
children,  and  if  the  regiment  went  through  she  would  go 
with  them,  whatever  might  happen,  and  she  did — a  lone 
woman  among  a  thousand  men,  going  to  meet  they  knew 
not  what  of  obstacles  or  armed  resistance.  Slowly  and 
tardily  they  made  their  way  without  encountering  an  enemy, 
but  had  that  regiment  been  driven  into  a  fight,  there  would 
have  been  found  in  its  ranks  another  Deborah  Sampson,  and 
her  chosen  place  would  have  been  with  the  color  guard. 

The  law  of  descent  was  here  re-asserting  its  unquenchable 
power.  It  was  the  heart  of  a  warrior  ancestry  beating  in  the 
bosom  of  a  woman.  Nor,  was  it  with  less  loyalty  to  its  claims 
that  she  annually  visited  Plymouth  Rock  to  stand  with  rev- 
erent feet  upon  that  Pilgrim  shrine,  and  to  bear  witness  in  her 
own  person  that  she  remained  the  faithful 

"  remnant  of  a  line 
Such  as  the  Doric  mothers  bore." 


LEONICB  MARSTON   SAMPSON   MOULTON.  29 

Therefore  was  it  that  on  such  an  elastic  nature  age  made 
but  little  impress.  Time  touched  her  lightly,  and  without 
extinguishing  her  youthful  feelings.  At  eighty-five,  still 
lithe  in  figure,  erect  in  carriage,  she  walked  with  the  spring- 
ing step  of  girlhood,  despising  those  common  aids  of  ad- 
vanced age — the  cushioned  chair,  the  protected  corner  by 
the  hearth,  the  staff  and  the  guardian  wraps  —  always  hap- 
piest when  braving  the  elements  outside,  that  had  given  her 
health  and  prolonged  usefulness.  The  indomitable  will,  and 
courage  never  to  submit  or  yield  to  circumstances  without  a 
struggle  for  better  terms,  were  as  prominent  traits  as  ever. 
Self-reliant  to  the  last,  beyond  even  the  limits  of  prudence, 
the  very  accident  which  terminated  her  existence  grew  out  of 
this  spirit  of  independence  and  over-activity.  Yet  not  un- 
fitting was  her  death  to  the  framework  of  Spartan  character 
in  which  she  had  lived.  For,  when  the  summons  came,  it 
found  her  untouched  and  undecayed  by  the  withering  hand  of 
disease ;  like  a  soldier,  still  in  harness,  and  on  post,  and  she 
stepped  from  Time  into  Eternity  without  pain,  without  prem- 
onition or  mortal  anguish  —  simply  translated  —  into  that 
higher 

"life  Elysian, 
Whose  portal  we  call  Death." 


